But David Poe of the Parkersburg (W.Va.) News and Sentinel predicts that this will be the final season for coach Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. Here is a portion of Poe's column:

He's not going to win. He's going to end the season with another lopsided loss to Ohio State, this time in the Big House, where there is no sin like losing to the hated Buckeyes.

Rodriguez's short tenure at Michigan has been a disaster.

The players don't seem to like his style. The alumni hasn't warmed up to him. The administrators who hired him -- and who could fire him -- were unhappy they were going to have to be deposed in his legal dispute with West Virginia University.

Although most coaches get at least three years to prove themselves, I'm convinced Rodriguez is only going to get two.

Poe then goes on to suppose that Rodriguez could wind up back in the state of West Virginia to coach Marshall next season.

Can WV please get over losing RichRod to UM? Man, the hate they have been spewing since he left... ridicilous IMO. Why don't they worry about their own team and how they will do this year?

/rant

I hope it is RR's last year. It's a travesty that he was hired in the 1st place. Jim Harbough should have gotten the gig.

July 15th, 2009, 12:46 am

WarEr4Christ

QB Coach

Joined: October 26th, 2005, 11:48 pmPosts: 3039Location: Elkhart, In.

Actually, the position should have gone to English the DC, I believe he would have done some wonderful things for U of M. He's very aggressive in his coaching, which Lloyd was not. I think English would have tore it up if he could have gotten the right OC and kept the system as it was. Michigan under Lloyd played too conservative, and was not willing to go out and punish teams. They would play App. State and think it was a throw away game, and they got bit! If they would have played the game like Alabama, or Texas, or USC, they'd stomp a mud hole in the easy games, and go for the juglar on the difficult ones. Now we'll never know, unless we sweet talk him from EMU.

_________________2 Chronicles 10:14, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)—Tate Forcier (FOR’-see-ay) has taken advantage of graduating high school early to take snaps and classes at Michigan.

Forcier rotated with Nick Sheridan during early drills that were open to the media Monday. The Wolverines practiced for the first time in a season they desperately hope marks a turnaround.

Michigan lost a school-record nine games last year in Rich Rodriguez’s debut season with college football’s winningest program.

Sheridan shared starting duties in 2008 with Steven Threet, who transferred after the season.

Forcier left sunny San Diego last winter, started his studies at Michigan last spring and gained a lot of experience during spring drills.

August 10th, 2009, 9:57 pm

wjb21ndtown

I really hope for U of M's sake that Forcier either starts right away, or starts after 2-3 games into the season. I expect U of M to win 5-7 games this year, but regardless of what they do, Rich Rod should be given this year and next year before they consider doing anything about replacing him.

Wolverines' offensive line grows upInexperience was factor last year, but coaches see growthAngelique S. Chengelis / The Detroit News

Ann Arbor -- Maybe it really is as simple as this -- last year, no experience, no depth; this year, experience, depth.

That's the difference in Michigan's offensive line from a year ago.

"The thing last year was, three of us on the offensive line had started a total of 17 games with (Steve) Schilling starting 12 of them," said Mark Ortmann, projected as this year's starter at left tackle.

"Along the offensive line it's pretty difficult to throw people into a situation that, A, they've never started, and B, they may never have played that much, maybe just clean-up crew. So to throw them into a situation that maybe they weren't comfortable with is a lot to ask."

Offensive line coach Greg Frey is upbeat about the line's potential this year. Having experienced players returning, not to mention a group of redshirt freshmen available, has given Frey a group of about a dozen players who can rotate throughout a game.

That sheer increase in bodies is enough to give Frey confidence. Perhaps more importantly, he believes, is the galvanizing effect that comes from going through a 3-9 season and understanding why they're putting in the work that's required.

Frey likes to say his players have worked hard and smart during the spring, into offseason conditioning and now that camp has begun.

"Guys have been out there, they've been in front of the good and bad," Frey said. "Now, it's a little more stabilized for them. They don't react as much up and down -- it's not a roller coaster. That gives a sense of confidence that, 'Hey, OK, listen, I know if I get these things better, I can make myself a better player.'

"They worked hard last year, but now they understand why they're working. That's where the mentality is. When I say they're working smarter, they're not trying to climb a mountain in two leaps. I think their mentality is healthier. They've jelled. They're friends. They get on each other when they need to correct something and defend each other when they need to and that's a nice thing to see."

What's also nice for Frey is the fact that he does have bodies to work with and he's not coming into the season trying to patch together a line. More than likely, Ortmann will be at left tackle, Schilling at left guard, David Molk back at center, David Moosman at right guard and Mark Huyge at right tackle.

Ortmann has said the confidence among the linemen is noticeable. How? Well, it's not like they sit around talking about how confident they feel, but they see it in the weight room and while watching film. The linemen have grasped coach Rich Rodriguez's offense, and they have seen results from strength coach Mike Barwis' conditioning workouts.

He said not only are the linemen stronger, but their agility has improved.

"I think that's going to carry over to the season just confidence-wise. When you're throwing around 500 pounds, that's going to boost your morale on the field," Ortmann said. "It's cool to see linemen doing the same drills as defensive backs. Granted, not doing them as fast but just as smooth. That's been pretty exciting."

Frey said his players aren't thinking as much.

"Of course they are thinking, but they don't have to consciously compute, 'OK, we're supposed to do X this play, and I have to do Y.' They react because they instinctively know what to do," Frey said.

That's the part of confidence that makes things easier on the players and the coaches. As Moosman said, confidence builds on itself and makes everything and everyone more efficient.

"We're a lot more confident in what we've got," Moosman said.

Rodriguez said that after the first day of practice Monday, the offensive line showed evidence of experience. The players recognized mistakes immediately, and instead of wondering what it was they had done wrong, they made the adjustment and moved on.

"They're a pretty sharp group," Rodriguez said.

Frey said it would be premature to evaluate the line now, but he does like what he has seen.

"They've taken great pride since the season has ended," Frey said. "They have attacked their weakness and have worked on their own.

"Some of it was just getting healthy, getting stronger, or getting a little older. Some of it was more getting used to dealing with adversity on the field. ... .

"With the work they've put in there comes a certain amount of confidence, and that's where you're see more of a feeling of, 'Yeah, I can do this.' It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm really excited to watch these guys go."

I'm still not liking Rich Rod. But, hopefully, This year is a much better year than last year.

August 14th, 2009, 1:08 pm

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2862

I love Rich Rod.

The guy's an offensive genius who took recruiting teams consistently ranked in the high 30's (38ish typically) and produced top ten teams for WVU nearly every year.

The whole anti-Rich Rod thing is truly history repeating itself.

Everyone has heard the phrase "those who stay will be champions".

Do you know where it comes from?

When Bo took over UM's football program in 1969, he was hated by most of the establishment. His practices were notoriously difficult. In the first year, 50% of his football players quit.

Thus, "those who stay will be champions" was born. I think the parallels are obvious.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to jump on the Rich Rod Love Train after one win against Western Michigan. I want to see what they do next week against Notre Dame first. With that said, I did see improvement in the defense (first half atleast) and the QB position. I chalk those up to having a new defensive coordinator who actually knows what he's doing and RichRod recruiting a couple of freshmen QBs who fit his system. Last year, Sheridan and Threet looked lost out there, but Forcier and Robinson looked comfortable yesterday.

I still have some concerns though. There were too many stupid penalties (holding, false start, and pass interference). Michigan may have been able to overcome them against Western, but they won't be able to against better teams. I also think that the OL is too undersized to compete effectively against some Big Ten teams. I guess time will tell on that one. Lastly, other than Warren, the secondary scares me. Cissoko could turn out to be good, but I was seeing too many Western WRs wide open downfield for my liking. I can only hope that those three issues won't become as big of a factor as I think they could.

_________________

September 6th, 2009, 11:30 am

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2862

I'm not "on the Rich Rod bandwagon" because of a win against WMU.

The win is refreshing, but hardly counts for anything. After all, WMU is part of the MAC, and Michigan--even with their terrible season last year--were still 13 point favorites.

I've liked Rich Rod ever since they've hired him, and still like him even after the debacle which was last year (honestly should've come as a surprise to no one).

I believe that once he fully implements his system (probably next year), Michigan will be able to consistently compete for National Titles again.